Brought into the Fold by Jamie Moore Bell

Jamie Moore Bell

Jamie Moore-Bell is the first person I met in the course of this case. As I lived around the corner from Terpening's farm, I decided to take his wife a devotional book. I wrote my phone number inside, in case she needed any help such as babysitting or volunteering on the farm. I was not greeted by Mrs. Terpening, but by Jamie. She took the book and thanked me, and after a brief conversation, I went home.

It was not long before I received a phone call from Jamie, wanting to talk about the case. She invited me to go to Marshall with her friend, Susie. One of the original victims, had recanted his story on WWMT as well as signed a notarized statement regarding the recant with Terpening's lawyer. According to Jamie and Susie, no one was taking the recant seriously, so they wanted to step it up by recording a self-make video of the victim to post to YouTube. So, I joined them for the ride.


We picked up the victim and went to Bigby Coffee, but the background music was too loud to adequately record a video, so we parked in a parking lot and taped the video from the backseat of Susie's car.


Jamie had a list of questions prepared for the victim that she had him provide answers for, in his own words. She went over the list of questions with the victim so certain answers she wanted were provided in the video. This was the first time I met the victim but would not be the last.


Little did I know that later transcripts would reveal that Jamie had been pushing the victim to recant by providing him with money for food, cigarettes, and also by showing him the much needed motherly attention that he craved in his life.